He Said, Miracle at St Anna

Spike Lee frustrates me. Clearly one of our most talented filmmakers, Lee makes films of substance and quality that will stand the test of time. Years from now people will see these films and for a fact know what was on our mind. His films have challenged the accepted state of race relations in our society and the held the a mirror to the face of history which attempts distort the ugly truth and soft pedals the atrocities of the past.

In the is film, Lee gives us his take on the condition of the American Negro during WW II. The script is rift with contradictions and what I call bumps in the road. It's those things that make you notice that your watching a movie rather than gathering you in to the arms of familiar but willing world of your imagination. The walk and talk arguments about the difference between the way the black man is treated in Europe and back home were relevant and needed, but I found the language stiled and preachy. and that is the consistent problem with Lee's hand on the throttle. He makes his point with a damn good story and compelling characters, but he can't resist that climb up to the top of the soap box for one more verbal whack at the injustice of it all.

I certainly think this film, with it's minor flaws, is more than worthwhile seeing. Lee uses and even hand in finding evil and courageous human behaviour on all sides of the conflict. Regardless if they be the in the German Army, the liberating US fores, the townspeople, or the partisan underground, there is enough bravery and treachery to go around. Evil in uniform is not an unusual theme, but in this age of political correctness it's uncomfortable watching a US Army officer screaming racial remarks at the compliant, loyal black soldier. It's uncomfortable watching hundreds of people die because the betrayer has betrayed once more. And even though there is a measure of justice in this film, but far to many people have to die to accomplish that small step.

Spike Lee is a great talent and his heart is always out there were we can see it. He just has to have more faith in our ability to get it

Before the Rain, He Said

Henry Moores, played by Linus Roache is a man of many facets. In the opening scenes, we see him side - by - side with his Indian partner T. K., played by Rahul Bose,as they plan and dream of expanding the spice plantation. He seems to be a progressive man who values his native friend both as a man and as a co-worker. This is no small gesture in southern India in 1938. The British are barely hanging on to their colony and anti-British sentiment is sucking all of the oxygen out of the air. T. K. believes in progress and feels that by working with Moores, he can better his community and therefore his country. He comes to see those who seek rebellion as people who can not move on to the modern world, but are stuck in the past. Moores and T. K. are going to build a road into the mountains so they can harvest more spices and expand their business. The road must be done "Before the Rains".

When Moores returns to his house after his days work, we quickly realize that he is having a love affair with his Indian house maid Sajani (Nandita Das ). Their affair is so far been hidden, even from T.K., but a romp in the forest is interupted by two small village children. Moores dismisses the incident.

The deception deepens as we find out that Moores is married and his wife and child are returning from holiday in England. Laura Moores, played by Jennifer Ehle brings her love and devotion and the warning that her father thinks her a fool for trusting her life to a man such as Moores. Moores takes all of this with good humor, but it is clear the pressure is building. His wife has no reason to suspect that Moores is anything but commited to her and their future. In fact , she befriends Sanjani and compliments her for taking such good care of her husband and house in her abcense.

Sanjani is also married to a crude and hostile man who is jealous an violent. Her brother, a good friend of T. K.'s is also very protective of her and is supicious of the situation at the Moores house.

The tension is drawn tighter as Moores takes out a loan for the construction of the road. The conditions are that it mus tbe completed before the Monsoon season and it must not wash away when the rains come. T. K. has assured Moores that his design will prevent the errosion of the road.

Aside from the monsoon destroying his road, the element that can destroy Moores and shatter his dream is his relationship with Sanjani. And like every love affair that is to be kept private, this one proves impossible to hide and leads to Moores downfall.

But this story is not just a story of misplaced passion. Moores believes he is the future for this area and it's people. He is like a lot of people who champion the downtrodden only to find out the people he wants to help may not want his help. The changes he brings maybe frightening and destabilizing. Throwing over tradition always means displacing power and those with power do not merely step aside. Yes, there is little doubt that Moores deserves his fate in this story, but the undercurrent is clarly true also. By destroying Moores other purposes were served. Moores weakness for Sanjani was a convenient tool for his enemies to destroy him.

The style of this film is typical Merchant Ivory. Filmed with rich and colorful scenes where the camera lingers just long enough to pass on the flavor of the setting without making it anything more than the spice in the stew. Roache and company do a superb job of making these people come to life and compel us to know them and what they are all about. In the vin of "Painted Veil", this cautionary tale about the clash of civilizations is most note worthy for its respect for the cultures involved and an evenhanded judgement of the times.

Bella, He Said

Bella, a 2006 film, only recently available on DVD, is a heart wrenching tale of personal growth and redemption. Director, writer Alejandro Gomez Monteverde presents his story in an intriguing series of revelations about the characters that always challenges our first impressions.

When the film opens, Jose, played by Eduardo Verástegui, is sitting on a beach his full beard and long flowing hair and his penetrating eyes give him a Christlke look. Jose's fascination with one girl playing in the surf with other children is disturbing enough tp cause a man to summon his children to his side, as if to protect them.
Then we flash back to an earlier day. Jose is being idolized by the neighborhood kids. He has just signed a contract to play professional soccer. He and his manager are leaving the New Jersey neighborhood, where his family lives, to attend his first big press conference. The old Caddy convertible rolls down the residential streets as the two men get into an animated conversation about Jose's impending interview. The music from the radio is hot salsa and the conversation becomes more intense. The speed of the car and the lack of attention portends disaster, but than we flash forward.

I'm not a huge fan of the flashback technique. There are many ways to set up history without going backwards and forwards multiple times. That being said, it is used about as well as can be done in this film. One of the things the director must do is establish in the minds of the viewer which era he is watching. Monteverde uses facial hair on Jose as a time setter. When we are back in the good old days he is relatively clean shaven. When we are in the present, he is full bearded. Also, and this one really bothered me, he wears his chefs white coat in every scene that is in the present. There were so many times I just wanted to scream," take that damn thing off!" As it happens, there is a scene toward the end of the film when his removal of tthe chef's coat is highly symbolic.

Chef's coat? We learn as the story develops that for whatever reason, the soccer career is over and Jose is laboring as the indispensable head chef in his bother Manny's upscale Manhattan restaurant. Manny is the hard driving boss with little concern for anything but his customers. Manny fires a waitress, Nina, played by Tammy Blanchard. In an impetuous move, Jose follows Nina to return a stuffed animal that has fallen out of her bag, only to find himself spending the entire day with her.

They slowly reveal their stories to each other as a bond grows between them. First it's their mutual problems with Manny, who is depicted as dictatorial and unfeeling. Than there is the problem of Nina's newly discovered pregnancy and what she will do with the situation. Later we get the story of why he is not playing soccer and why he is so insistent that she has her baby, even if she adopts the child to others.

The resolution of all these problems are built on the platfrm of the strong family Jose leans on and that welcomes Nina in her hour of need. Tearjerker? Yes. Maybe it's just that the characters in this film are slowly and strongly built that we care about them. Maybe it's a clear eyed look at one soluiton to an unwanted pregnancy. Maybe it's one more look at a successful immigrant family in a time that immigrants are once again in our long history of assimilation are under attack. For these and many more reasons, this is an excellent film and one that will stick with me for quiet a while.

Sabbatical Notice

Actually, I'm not an academic, nor am I getting paid to not write my blog, but I am taking some time off to do some personal writing. I expect to be back in July. If you are one of my regular readers, I hope you'll indulge me.

Flawless, He Said

Starring Demi Moore as the career impaired American in the multinational behemoth London Diamond Corporation and the always interesting Michael Caine, as the unseen Janitor. this highly unlikely pair manages to bring the powerful and greedy men who run this monopoly to it's knees. Both, for their own reasons, has a need to strike back at the puppeteer who pulls their strings, and strike they do

Caine's character Hobbs is another in the long string of charming rascals that he does so effortlessly. Hobbs is just one of the janitors in the sparkling clean and sterile offices of the Corporation. At one point the career obsessed Laura Quinn asks him how he has access to so much information about her and the inner workings of the company. He tells her that people discuss things in front of him as if he wasn't even there. Than given the access to all of the office waste and the information that contains, Hobbs has a unique perspective on this super-secretive organization. Hobbs convinces Laura that he only wants to steal a small amount of diamonds to secure his retirement. He recruits her because he knows that not only has she been passed over for advancement six times, but that she is going to be fired. Once she verifies that he is correct, she steals the secret combination to the main vault.

Laura is a reluctant participant in the crime and at every turn becomes Hobb's accomplice and worst problem as she vacillates from wanting to succeed and fear of failure. when the film opens and older Laura Quinn is giving an interview to a clueless young reporter who is writing a puff piece on the women who forged the path for women in the all boys club atmosphere of the business world in the nineteen sixties. Laura wipes the smugness off the young woman's face when she pops a legendary diamond out of her purse and implies that the gem was the cause of her imprisonment until the very day they were meeting.

When we get pulled back to London in the sixties, we see young Laura as an ex-patriot American trying to work her way up in the corporation. Quickly we learn that her intelligence and are both a asset and threat to the men who run the company. We can see even if Laura won't admit it that she is going no where in this firm for one reason and one reason alone, she is a women in a mans world. Her manipulation by Hobbs is almost as ruthless as the neglectful corporation, for it soon becomes apparent that Hobbs has and agenda that is wider than enhancing his self-styled retirement fund.
This film is a fun romp of a "how'ed he do it" and look at the way things were and continue to be for women in the man's world. I know the Demi Moore is the actress that critic's love to hate, but this role is one she handles as easily as "G. I Jane", where she ventures into this war of the sexes. Caine as alternatively the resourceful thief and father figure compliments her completely. The script is tight and the ending completely a surprise.

The Visitor, He Said

This skillfully written and presented "little film" stars the familiar but little known Richard Jenkins as Walter Vale, a discontented economics professor. Jenkins is one of the many character actors, we see in films and on television, but until now has not been asked to carry the film. Ably supported by Haaz Sleiman as the illegal immigrant Tarek and his also illegal street vendor girl friend Zanib played by Danai Jekesai Gurira.

The story begins by slowly revealing Walter in his life as professor on a small campus, who is clearly burned out uninterested in his career. We know almost from the beginning that the book he is working on is not going well and his reluctance to teach, he only has one class, is a symptom of a greater discontent. Walter returns to his apartment in the New York City because he is forced to present a paper that he co-authored to a seminar.

When he gets to the apartment, he finds that someone has rented the unit to two illegals, Tarek, and Zanib. At first, he merely wants them out of his apartment, but when he sees that they are decent people, he invites them back on a temporary basis. As they pursue their living, Tarek is a musician and Zanib as a street vendor, Walter attends the seminar. They begin to get to know each other and relate to each others cultures. Walter has tried to learn to play the piano with little success, but when Tarek offers to show Walter to play the African drum, Walter begins his transformation.

When Tarek is arrested for a bungled attempt to get he and his drum through a subway turn-style, his status is revealed and he is interned in a holding prison in Queens, NY. Sanib dare not visit him because she will also be arrested. Tarek does not want his mother, who lives in Michigan, to know what is going on because she will worry to much.

Walter tries to get Tarek released by hiring a immigration attorney. When Tarek's mother comes to New York because she hasn't heard from him, our story takes a different turn. Their sweet and evolving relationship makes Walter realizes the the loss of his vitality and desire to live has been dashed by the death of his wife and his disillusionment with his career.

Thomas McCarthy's script and direction does not permit the Hollywood ending that we might hope for, but the scene with Walter drumming on the platform of the New York subway is probably more telling and inspiring than what Hollywood would usually provide.

This film is worth more than the tale of redemption. Walter, Tarek and Sanib's story tells us more about what it's like to be and illegal immigrant in this country. As in the film "Under the Same Moon", we are forced to see the bad things that happen to these generally good people. I don't think these films have any answers to the problems that illegal immigration bring to our table, but it forces most of us, who don't have to face the conditions of these people on a daily basis, look and feel their plight.

Under The Same Moon, He Said

This is a story of a little boy whose mother has chosen to come illegally to the United States and work in order to make a better life for him. He lives each week for the phone call that comes every Sunday at 10:00 a. m. His mother, also looks at these precious moments on the same corner, at the same pay phone as the highlight of her week and clearly this ritual gives them both hope. But this story is about much more than the hopes and dreams of a little Mexican boy and his mother. it is about the experience of many illegals in this county regardless of their country of origin or their reason for coming here. It's about the image we have as a country of inclusiveness and the reality of our fear of foreigners.

We, on one hand, depend on the hordes of South American illegal workers to pick our vegetables and fruits, to do our gardening and landscaping, to roof our houses clean our homes and tend our children, while at the same time pursue them for deportation. In one scene of this film Rosario, the mother of our hero Carlito, is fired by an obviously over-privileged, vain and thoughtless women for whom she has been working as a house maid. Not only does this women cruelly dismiss the young women who desperately needs the job, but she refuses to pay her for the time she has put in fort that week and taunts her because she knows Rosario has no recourse.

The story portrays for us the disliked and distrusted Mexican women in Carlito's home town, who arranges for people to cross the border illegally. She is resented for the high prices she charges and the apparent lack of concern for her customers, but she is tolerated because she is necessary in this corrupt business. We still find that she is only as cruel as she has to be to survive.

Our story begins with the death of Carlito's grandmother. He does not want to live with his greedy Uncle and he is tired of waiting for his mother to send for him or come home. He decides to go North and find her himself. His journey will entail the intervention and help of many people. Much of this part of the film is fanciful and somewhat unbelievable, but the spirit of the character of little Carlito is infectious and his cause is noble.

In the end, this film is uplifting and gratifying only because it depicts the best in the immigrants who come here seeking to better themselves. The story gloss's over what happens to those who in their hopelessness and need turn to crime and violence in order to survive. We need to be challenged to a greater extent for our duplicity and neglect of our fellow citizens of the world who look to us for leadership and example. At this point, we fail not only the Carlito's of the world, but our own ethic and image

Gone Baby Gone, He Said

The right ingredients make the best dishes, but you need the right cook to make it all come together. It's not often you have the cook as one of the indispensable quality ingredients. Ben Affleck is a middlin' good actor and a first class writer. Add to the list director and if Gone Baby Gone is representative of a presumptive career, I'd say a damn good director. As an ingredient Mr Affleck got his start in the movie business as the writer of Good Will Hunting which is becoming, and deserves to be, a classic coming of age tale about a couple of South Boston kids. Writing the screenplay for Gone Baby Gone, Affleck is adapting the the book of Dennis Lehane. Affleck has done a masterful job of taking, what is always a great story from Lehane and bringing it to life on the screen. His decision to direct the film, Affleck has to be compared favorably to the guy who last tookLehane to the screen with Mystic River, Clint Eastwood.

There is nobody in this film that doesn't give us a great performance. Affleck does us a great favor by casting his brother Casey Affleck as the young local private detective. Casey does an outstanding job of portraying the guy who is trying so hard to clear away the slime and pays the price for trying to do the right thing. Rejecting the obvious out, of going along to get along, he loses everything but his self respect He's the son you hope you raise and the sap the world shits on.

The other ingredients are at least as important. I've never seen a movie that Ed Harris didn't make better just by being in it. It makes no difference if he carries the film, as in Pollock or has a bit part like The Hours, Harris crafts a version of a character that is compelling and magnetic. Harris seems to draw everyone around him toward the message his role is suppose to convey without being obvious.

Morgan Freeman slides in and out of this story like a storm cloud on the horizon that threatens, but fades from consciousness until it's on top of you. Freeman has such great range. He plays some of the meanest guys walking to God and he does with a subtle and convincing manner that defies description. Few actors can shed a characters facade of goodness to reveal the true evil lurking behind as well as Freeman.

Amy Ryan is like a lot of actors today in that we've seen her work many times on Law and Order et al. But these appearances are not as note worthy since they are fleeting and quite honestly taken for granted. Than she gets this opportunity and hits it out of the park. She plays the dope ridden survivor mother of the child who is kidnapped. This has to be one of the great roles of her life and she doesn't waste the opportunity. She gives rise to hatred and disgust of her callow disregard for her baby and her selfish need for drugs. Than she is throwing a switch we begin to see why and how she is the way she is and we reach out to her in sympathy. And than as quickly as her five minutes of fame dissolves she shows us what she is worth and our sympathy is wasted because she is not capable of being anything other than the user she is.

The drama of the search for the missing child takes us through the wrong side of society. The grit and reality of life, as all to many of us are forced to live, is exposed like an open wound. The users and abusers switch back and forth in their roles in a desperate attempt to survive in a culture where survival is everything. Affleck doesn't cushion the blows or try for the Hollywood ending. This is edgy gritty stuff and if your a viewer that likes things ending in neat resolution, shop elsewhere.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Julian Schnabel's masterpiece The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a little difficult to get into, but maybe that's just me. The movie, based on the biographical book by the same name, is the story of what happens to Jean-Dominique Bauby when he wakes up to find himself paralyzed in a hospital. While his physical condition is as bad as it could be, his mind is sharp and present. What he can't do, at the outset, is communicate.

Bauby is suffering from a brain stem deterioration. This leaves him paralyzed. His condition is rare and incurable, but with the help of dedicated therapist's he's not only learns to communicate but to write the book.The method used is painstaking and a hard on everyone. At first the only thing that he can do is blink his left eye. His therapist teaches him a system; he blinks once to answer no to a question; he blinks twice for yes. His therapist simply recites the alphabet starting with the most used letters and progressing until Bauby blinks.

Bauby's relationship with his colleagues at Ellie magazine, his wife, children and lover are tested and expanded in new directions. You need only to see Bauby's wife trying to help him communicate with his long time lover to realize the love and care these people have for him and the courage Bauby has to live in this life that he is force to live.

Courage and a huge desire to live, aided by the ability of dedicated health-care practitioners, permit Bauby to give his life value in the face of almost unbelievable barriers. Schnabel films this story from the disturbing and often confusing perspective of the subject. Blurry fade in and fade outs give us the frustrating view of the world from the strangely afflicted victim. The camera challenges the viewer to visit the body and mind of Bauby and try to imagine living in this state. While this technique is difficult to get into at first, it does grow on you. This film is one that uses special effects to inform rather than trying to sucker the viewer into feeling car wrecked.

American Gangster, He Said

You start with a great director, Ridley Scott. You add two American Iconic actors Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. You mix in a tight script Steven Zaillian. And you have a recipe for success.

American Gangster tells us a story about free market economics, entrepreneurship and greed at a level that even Wall Street would blanch at. When the film opens a young Frank Lucas, played by Washington, is thrust into the leadership position of a Harlem gang because of the sudden death of his beloved mentor. Frank will later tell people that the man was like a father to him. The man dies in a warehouse retail store as he is telling Frank about the new economics. This store has by passed the wholesalers and gone directly to the source of their goods. They have also eliminated personal service.

When Frank emerges as the new kingpin, after murdering his competition in broad daylight in front of enough community to make sure nobody else will try and muscle him out, he looks at the business from a different angle. The New York City Police who are suppose to be fighting the drug dealers are actually selling confiscated dope, that is cut and re-cut , back to the Italian Mafia, who than resells it to Franks dealers. Frank, using contacts in Vietnam, arranges to buy 100% pure product and smuggle it into the US on military flights.
By marketing the product himself and making sure that everyone he needs is paid well and on time, Frank takes over the drug trade in New York and eventually pretty much all of the East Coast. In doing this his genius is that he is below the radar on all of the drug enforcement efforts, who are still looking at the Italian Mafia. Frank has only one enemy that he has to deal with and that is the corrupt New York cops.

Enter Detective Ritche Roberts. Roberts is defined by the incident in which he and his partner found one million dollars in the trunk of a hoodlums car and turned it in. He is shunned by his corrupt peers. He is also witnessing the destruction of his marriage, as his dedication to the law and his studies to get his law degree have left little time for a family life. Because of his reputation to honesty Roberts is given the green light to organize a special unit to wipe out the big time drug operations on the East Coast. With his handpicked crew of honest and knowledgeable cops, he assembles a rogues gallery of suspects, after he tells his crew that they are leaving the small time dealers to others, he only wants to get the big guys. Noticeably missing on his rogues gallery is Frank Lucas.

This is a story of how success begets envy and makes you a target for all of your competitors. People don't want to bring down Frank with a better idea or a better product; they want to get what he has and they don't want to pay for it. Frank is able to limit his exposure by using his family to diversify his operations and by keeping a low profile. He tells his younger cousin, who has taken to wearing stylish clothes and affecting an outrageous lifestyle, that what he looked like to the rest of the world was tantamount to saying, "Arrest me". He cautioned him to dress different and not make a spectacle of himself. And yet in the end , it is making a spectacle of himself is what drew Roberts attention to Frank and caused his down fall. Typical of a hood who is taking the rap Frank takes the other bad guys down with him.

This film is one of those entertaining but also instructive stories that has to be taken with a shot of clear eyed realization that Robert's character, for one, is the consolidation of probably a couple if not a few agencies in the real events. Given that suspension of disbelief, you can enjoy this story for what it is. If you looking for Russel and Denzel on screen together, you'll be disappointed. If your looking for great performances by both of these fine actors you will not be disappointed. Washington and Crowe bring these real life character to life with all of their assets and liabilities laid out like a corporate Profit and Loss statement. the film juxtaposes Frank Lucas's disregard for what drugs did to his community in contrast to his generosity and concern for his family. Roberts dedication to honesty and the law is contrasted to his total failure as a husband and father. We also witness the real villain in this film, the effect of drugs on our society and how our utter inability to face the problem further complicates the issue.

Oscars, A Lousy American Tradition

I have little, if any regard for the Academy Awards. It isn't the Academy's fault that the American Public in it's ceaseless need to rate things has expropriated the Oscar and maintains this love hate relationship with it. But let's face it, it's not like the Motion Picture Industry hasn't gleefully participated and promoted that relationship.

My first complaint is with the process. Yeah, I know, everyone bitches about the process. Ask ten people on the street if they voted for their favorites in the Academy Awards and I will bet that the majority of them will reply yes or no. Fans have a right to an opinion, but no right to vote. I swear movie fans think that if they vote online through some entertainment magazine that it might count. Truth is only members of the Academy get to vote. If people want to part of the process they do get to vote for American Idol and The Peoples Choice Awards, but not the the Oscars.

My second problem is with the concept of comparing movies, actors and other contributors and than choosing one as the best. Tell me, which is the best citrus fruit, oranges, grapefruit or lemons? No matter what film the Academy picks as it's winner there will be more than enough critic's telling them they didn't get it right. Folk's Elvis is dead and there is no way to judge one film better than another, get on with your lives.

Opinions about the best film get down to a couple of unquantifiable factors. What film did you enjoy and after a time does it still linger with you? Like your favorite music, painting or book, does the film have lasting value for you. Trust me, you will not have to consult Rodger Ebert, Leonard Maltin or the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to reassure yourself as to which are your favorite films. If they moved you when you saw them and they continue to resonate after a long period of time, they have brought something worthwhile to your life.

The Academy Awards are about jewelery, dresses and gossip magazine romance theories. For those that need that, fine enough, for the serious movie buff the Oscar's are useless. That is why they need John Stewart to make watching the presentation worth while

There Will Be Blood, He Said

I suppose this film is a success because it represents a portrait on such a broad canvas. We have the American Dream turning into a nightmare, passion to succeed morphing into an obsession and paternal love degrading into hatred.

Daniel Plainview, played brilliantly by Daniel Day-Lewis, is a man who is driven to succeed. We witness the dawn of the American Industrial age in the late 1800's. The film opens with an amazing piece of film that is totally without dialogue where Plainview discovers his first oil deposit. These scenes show his gritty and dogged determination. Suffering physical and mental pain, he endures and succeeds in convincing people to allow him to drill on their land. His personality is such that he is able to convince these folks that he can deliver a better life for all. In the end however, it is Plainview who has the money. He's the snake oil salesmen without the snake.

When an accident kills one of his workers, he takes charge of the workers child, passing the kid off as his own son. It helps him to portray himself as a concerned father and family man, the wife allegedly having died in childbirth. We watch as Plainview cons his way into the hearts of the community and gathers the oil money into his hands. He becomes obsessed with the control and no detail escapes him. His battle with the other oil companies is as important as his battle with the local preacher. The appearance of is half brother resurrects his buried feeling for his family and his youth. His obsession for money and control ferries him down a river of emotion ending in the rapids and finally the great waterfall of self destruction.

The acting in this film, lead by Daniel Day-Lewis, is superb. The photographic quality is brooding, which fits the mood. The dissonance in the score is unsettling and at sometimes distracting. Overall, the script is plodding and at times a detriment to telling the story. The total lack of any humor or comedy may be the biggest problem. Emotionally this story starts in a hole and never really gets out of it. On the strength of Day-Lewis's performance this film has received a lot of attention, but I do not think it will rank high in my list of favorites.
This film and "No Country for Old Men" are often mentioned for Award consideration. They do have some similarities. If you enjoy a film that depicts the worst side of human behavour with no redeeming qualities this and "No Country for Old Men" do well in that category

The Savages, He Said

Wendy and Jon Savage, Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman are stuck in their own versions of hell. He is a professor of drama in a University in Buffalo, New York. He is writers blocked on a paper he has been trying to get published for a long time. He is in love with a Polish woman, whose visa is running out and hasn't got the confidence to ask her to marry him. Wendy is working as a temp in Manhattan. She is trying to get her stage play produced. Her sex life consists on trysts with a married man who is much older than she is.

Wendy gets a call from a woman on the West Coast. Their father has been diagnosed with dementia. More to the point the women he was living with has died and her family don't want to have anything to do with him, but than neither do Wendy and Jon. It becomes clear quickly that the two of them wrote off their abusive father years ago, but at this point he has no one else to turn to. With a sense of duty, if not love and concern, they both travel to Arizona only to find that not only is he with out friends he has no resources. He had been sponging off his girlfriend for years. Jonflys back to Buffalo to find a rest home for the old guy. Wendy stays to clear out her dad's belongings and escort him back to Buffalo.

Once he is safely ensconced in the rest home, Jon talks Wendy into staying with him for awhile. It is in this time that the structure of the family and the dis-functionality is revealed to us. Jon and Wendy are at once supportive and competitive with each other. Their memory of how bad it was with Dad in their youth is different but neither version is pretty. Jon tends to be the more practical of the two and Wendy is the more sympathetic. What evolves is the kind of disagreements, guilt trips and fantasy exercises that occurs daily as people try and figure out what to do with their aging and ailing parents.

Linny and Hoffman are magnificent as the barely functioning survivors of something that might be called a family, but was really only real in the biological sense. They struggle with their own lives and try and leave something left over for their father who seems to deserve none of what they work so hard to give him. Their fathers interment and eventual death does little for their relationship with him, but a huge amount for the relationship they have as the realization that they are the only family they have left and to squander it would be folly.

The script and direction by Tamara Jenkins is excellent and overall the fact that she could get these two outstanding actors along with Philip Bosco to do this film says volumes about her talent. This is a must see film.

The Kite Runner, He Said

This journey starts in Afghanistan before the Russians have invaded. On this journey, we follow the life of a young Afghan boy. Amir is raised by his widowed father, Baba, with the help of a faithful servant and the servants son, Hassan. Baba is a successful business man, who is outspoken in his opposition to the Mullah's and the Communists in his country. Later, this will determine a huge course correction in the direction of their lives, but the director first had to set up the beginning of a classic coming of age journey, and what we leaned in the first part of the film is that Amir is the quiet story teller and Hassan is the brave and loyal friend.

The young boys live a carefree life exhibited in their love of flying the battle kites, a long a respected tradition among young boys in Kabul. In this competition, when the victor engages and cuts the string of the last kite in the competition, he is the champion and his "runner" seeks the kite of the loser as a trophy for his master. It is during this competition, that Amir with the guidance of Hassan wins the battle and Hassan runs for the defeated kite as a battle trophy. During this pursuit, Hassan is cornered by bullies who give him the choice of betraying his master or suffering humiliation at their hands. Hassan, always brave, defies the boys and is raped by Assef. Amir witnesses this humiliation from afar and finds himself incapable of helping his friend.

Amir's guilt and the torture of daily exposure to him, causes him to drive Haasan and his father from the house on a framed charge of theft. We do not have long to witness the effects of this circumstance, because as the Russians advance toward Kabul, Baba flees with his son to America. After their flight from Aphganistan, Baba and Amir settle in Southern California making their living selling in the flea markets. Amir as he grows to manhood continues to hone his skills as a story teller. He graduates from community college, than meets and courts a young Afghan woman, Soraya. They are happy but childless on the day that the shipment of his first hardcover novel appears on their doorstep. It is in the midst of this joy that Amir gets a call from a man who was left to care for the family home in Kabul. Amir feels compelled to fly to Pakistan to help this old friend in trouble. The news he hears when he arrives is a lot more complex than just helping an old friend in need. The news that his fathers friend gives him is shocking and hard to believe. Faced with decision that will give Amir a chance at redemption, but will place him in grave danger, Amir finds the courage of his friend Hassam.

This film is the embodiment of a great story, unfortunately it was not the story I read in Khaled Hosseini's book The Kite Runner, upon which this film is based. The convoluted rescue is overly dramatic and phony and it's portrayal of the Taliban as your average bad guys instead of the monster's and thugs they became was disappointing. Overall, this film has value in it's depiction of the Afghan people and a look at their life. What was missing is all of the background that enabled first the Russians and than the Taliban to use the country and it's people for their ideological playground. The actors in this drama for the most part were first rate and the production values splendid. You will enjoy this a lot more if you have not read the book first.

Juno, He Said

If an movie about accidental teen pregnancy can bring a smile to your face, it's this one. Part of the reason is that the dilemma of our pregnant heroine, Juno MacGuff is not trivialized. All of the angst and physical discomfort of teen pregnancy is displayed and examined. The confused and frightened boyfriend, the disappointed parents, the disapproving boyfriends parents, and the unsympathetic school friends are all depicted as we might imagine them in real life. On the other hand, some of the snappiest dialogue ever written puts this story in this time and place better than a set designer or costume designer ever could.

After she initiates a clumsy one night stand with her boy friend, Paulie, played by Michael Cera, Juno finds herself pregnant. The heroine Juno, deliciously played by Ellen Page, decides she wants to have the baby and adopt it out. When she tells her parents, she also has a plan. Juno and her friend, Leah, found the couple to adopt the baby from an ad in the shopping news.

Juno's father played by J.K. Simmons insists on accompany his daughter to her interview with the perspective couple. This pair of yuppies seem ideal, even if Vanessa Loring, played by Jennifer Garner, is a little tightly wound. We easily sense her disbelief that this child may suddenly become hers and she holds herself in reserve in case the arrangement falls. The Hubby,Mark Loring, Jason Bateman, is giving us all kind of signs that he is not on board, but it only becomes apparent later.

What this film is abut is a young person learning about love. Not the red hot sensual love of sex in the dark, but the love that gets you through waking up in the middle of the night with a crying child. The kind of love that puts your dreams on hold so your kids can grow up and formulate a dream for themselves.

The script in this film is wonderful for two reasons. The dialogue is snappy and funny. The writer, Diablo Cody, involves every character in the story to demonstrate his theme. Juno's step mom, Bren, Allison Janney, tells her that her dream is to own a dog, but she has put this on hold until Juno moves out because Juno is allergic to dog saliva. We also watch the sceptical step mom become the pillar of support that Juno needs.

Mark Loring shows us that some of us shouldn't be parents, because we aren't ready to give up our dreams and that just going along with the program is not anything like wanting to be a Dad. Vanessa shows us that if your ready your ready and Juno represents the knowing your not ready.

I often admired the work of the ubiquitous J.K. Simmons. With a face like a Dad, a cop, a government official, and news paper editor, Simmons has played all of them. He is great as the retired military, HAVC repair man, father. His performance almost violates the wall between theactor and the audience because in this story he does represent all of us. He has the unconditional for Juno we all wish we could express in her moment of need and the bastion of common sense in the sea of lunacy Juno submerges herself in.

I love that a small film can attract the quality of actors and talent that this film did. But I understand why they would want to do it. This neat little comedy puts the Mall Movie Hijinks's films to shame with their pandering to the sitcom mentally. This film informs in an entertaining way with characters that have depth and a theme that plums the depths of reality.

Sweeny Todd, He Said

Blood, blood and more blood. What would you expect from the portrayal of The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, particularly when you team up Johnny Depp and Tim Burton?

Burton's style is all over this film version of the Broadway Play of the same name. In one scene, Todd, Johnny Depp, is holding his famed straight-edge razors, one in each hand and singing about his mission for them, it was as if Edward Scissorhands had returned once again.

I've not seen the stage production of this play, but I assure you that Burton has pulled off a rare great transformation of a musical to film. He starts with the masterful casting of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Depp, as Sweeny Todd, made up in overly sinister fashion and Bonham Carter, as the pie making Mrs. Lovett are matched in such a way as to leave no doubt who are the ones we should be worried about.

As our story opens, Todd is returning to London, after a stretch in prison, to re-open his barber shop on Fleet Street. His intention is not reclaimed financial success, but revenge. He has changed his name and appearance so as not to be recognized as the former barber Benjamin Barker. Barker had his wife and daughter stolen from him by the evil and powerful Judge Turpin, Alan Rickman. He learns, from Mrs. Lovett that his wife had committed suicide rather than face life with Turpin and that his daughter is Turpin's ward. For Todd, it's simple. He will lure Turpin to his shop by establishing himself as the premier barber on the street, and having done so, kill him with one quick sheer stroke of his razor.

Easy enough, but events intervene and because of one nasty but necessary killing, Todd and Lovett end up in the meat pie business out of greed, Lovett and necessity, Todd. They needed a way to dispose of the bodies. So gross are the killing scenes, you have to laugh. The tragic ending makes you take note that in our best hopes for the world all bad things will happen to those who are bad and that with the safe landing of Todd's, aka Barker's daughter, there is always hope.

Johnny Depp is one of our finest American Actors. How I would love to see him on stage. This and his masterful portrayal of Jack Sparrow,in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, give me that almost over the top without going to far capability that an actor needs to reach the back row, but not look like a ham to those in the first row. Burton's pairing Depp with Bonham Carter is brilliant and they play off each other like facing mirrors.

Burton needs no further accolades to establish himself as a great director, and this will do nothing to diminish him. Now, if he can only find another character, who needs sharp things in both hands and get Johnny to play him.

No Country for Old Men, He Said

The Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, have returned to violence as a way of entertaining their fans. Regardless if it's ferrets in the bathtub (The Big Lebowski) or killers freezing and putting their victim through a log shredder (Fargo ), these guys need no help in investigating the grotesque. But help they got from none other than the man's man writer, Cormac McCarthy. Based on his novel of the same name, the princess's of reality weirdness take us into the wild west of the nineteen seventies , where the drug trade, rather than cattle rustling, is really just getting interesting and the violence is escalating with the profits.

Young Llewelyn Moss, Josh Brolin is hunting on the barren desert landscape, when he runs into ample evidence of a drug deal gone very bad. A number of men and a couple of dogs lie dead in a circle of bullet riddled trucks and four wheel SUV. Moss finds a pick up full of dope. He also finds one of the combatants alive, barely, but able to ask for water. Moss also figures that one of the bad guys has set off on foot across the desert. When he finds him he finds a briefcase full of cash. Taking the more liquid of the assets, Moss retreats to his trailer home and his wife. That night, Moss returns to the scene of the massacre in sympathy for the survivor. While he is on the scene the bad guys show up to find out what happened to their friends, their drugs and the money, and so begins the journey.

Moss is aware that although he evades their first attempt to kill him, they will find him if he doesn't run. Packing his wife off to her mothers, Moss fades from the surface. Enter killer psychopath Anton Chiqurh, played by Javier Bardem. This guy is smart, ruthless and undeterred by any plea for mercy. His psychotic character represents the best bad guy that will ever quake your knees. Once you're in his grasp, you're effectively dead.

In the background, we have the Sheriff Tom Bell, Tommy Lee Jones, who is going through a personal crisis's. Does he want to continue in the family heritage of law enforcement in this age of automatic weapon wielding drug gangs? If he doesn't, what will he do?

Will Moss elude Anton and live to enjoy the money? Will Anton get his just deserts and die a horrible but justified death? Will Tom Bell, as he attempts to save Moss from his own greed, answer the riddle for the middle age rs, to work or not to work, when the career gets old and tiring. I would say to see this film for the answers, but don't expect to leave the theater with a smile on your face or the warm feeling in you heart. TheCoen's have never been about Hollywood endings and they don't turn a new page on that score in this one.